


If The Fates Allow

by makbaes (gentlemindedlostgirl)



Category: GOT7
Genre: Bambam is a menace, Blind Date, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Matchmaking, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 10:11:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gentlemindedlostgirl/pseuds/makbaes
Summary: Yugyeom's older brother, Jaebeom, is lonely. Bambam's best friend, Mark, is lonely. Bambam doesn't see why they wouldn't be perfect together.Or: Bambam is a menace, but at least its the holidays.





	If The Fates Allow

**Author's Note:**

> This is another commission for Chaser @ghoulhwa on twitter! I hope you all like it! And feel free to commission me @goldennmakbae on twitter!
> 
> Merry Christmas!

“I love my brother, but I swear to god, I’m about to lose my goddamn mind,” Yugyeom groaned as he closed his bedroom door and flopped onto his bed. 

Bambam laughed as he put his phone down, turning to his boyfriend with a fond smile. “What was that one all about?”

Yugyeom rolled his eyes. “He’s just lonely. But he won’t admit that he’s lonely. Lonely plus college out for the winter means he has nothing to do and tries to spend all of his time with me. Which is great and all, but  _ not  _ when you’re over. He doesn’t get that, no, I really  _ don’t  _ want to play Catan with him right now, and neither do you.”

“Maybe I  _ do  _ want to play Catan with your hot brother,” Bambam teased as he gave Yugyeom a little nudge. “He sounds like Mark. Except Mark is lonely and won’t talk to people. I have to bribe him out of his apartment with food. I even downloaded Tinder on his phone! But he got mad at me and said he wouldn’t use it,” Bambam pouted with a sigh as he settled, cuddling into his boyfriend’s side. “Gyeomie, I just got the most brilliant idea.”

“Which means it’s a terrible idea,” Yugyeom laughed. “Tell me anyway.”

“You suck, shut up, this is smart, listen,” he sat up a bit so that he could gesticulate properly. “You want Jaebeom to stop bothering you. I want Mark to get out of his damn apartment. Both are lonely gays. So we set them up, problem solved.”

“Great, except Jaebeom refuses to meet new people and hates the idea of dating. And Mark doesn’t do strangers.”

Bambam sighed. This was a true and unfortunate dilemma. If this plan was going to work, he was going to need to be creative. It was a large frustration for the young man, who saw himself as the perfect matchmaker who just wanted the best for the people in his life. The fact that they didn’t seem to want to be helped wasn’t  _ his  _ fault, it was just a detriment to them because it meant that their progress got delayed. 

This time it was going to be different. Because  _ this  _ time, Bambam wouldn’t even tell the people involved that they were part of a matchmaking scheme. This would mean that they wouldn’t even have the room to try and stop him and therefore ruin everything. Bambam’s mind was already racing as he thought up a plan. Yugyeom groaned.

“You’ve got your mischief face on and that means I’m in trouble.”

“I think I have a plan,” Bambam smiled. “But I’m going to need your help.”

“Jaebeom’s going to kill me, but fine.”

“Great!” Bambam chimed and pressed a kiss to Yugyeom’s cheek. “So here’s what we’re going to do…”

 

************************

Mark didn’t want to go out that night. Mark didn’t want to go out  _ any  _ night, as a rule. With school being out for the winter, all he wanted to do was sit in his apartment and play all the video games that he had previously only been able to use as a tool for procrastination before. Mark would call himself an introvert. Bambam, his best friend in the whole world despite his better judgement, would call him a hermit. It wasn’t his fault that college life normally meant he spent all day being social. As a result, he had a special appreciation for his alone time. 

Which meant, of course, that Bambam wouldn’t have that, and was always trying to get him to go out and do all sorts of crazy things that he didn’t want to do. But if Mark got a free meal out of it, he was more inclined to be convinced. 

This was what brought him here, to the local barbeque place that had become a favorite of the two friends, and a regular hangout. Bambam had instructed him to get there at six and go to the table under his name. He had warned that he would be a little late, because he would be coming from the movies with Yugyeom, who was also bringing his brother, Jaebeom, but that they would certainly show up. 

It was a little after six now, and Mark was starting to feel pretty pathetic sitting all alone at the table. 

“Table for Bambam?” Mark heard a voice at the front ask. 

His head perked up as he searched for the sound, only to find that his best friend wasn’t actually there. Instead, there was the unmistakable presence of Jaebeom. 

Mark had met Yugyeom’s brother once or twice, usually at a birthday get-together of some sorts. He hardly knew anything about him except that he was a literature student who had very particular taste in his books. And that he was pretty beyond belief, but that was beside the point, and hardly important. 

Jaebeom brushed some snow off of his shoulder as the hostess lead him over to the table where Mark was sitting. When he approached, Mark shifted a bit awkwardly in his seat. He had never been alone with Jaebeom before and didn’t quite know what to do. What was he supposed to say to him? He had no idea if they had anything in common besides the fact that they were close with a pair of idiots. 

“Is it snowing?” Mark asked dumbly. He immediately wanted the ground to swallow him whole. This was why he didn’t go out. When he did, all he was capable of doing was embarrassing himself. 

“Yeah,” Jaebeom chuckled as he took off his coat, draping it over the back of his chair before he sat down. He looked nice, Mark couldn’t help but note. He wasn’t  _ too  _ dressed up. He was wearing clean jeans and nice sneakers. But the light purple sweater he was wearing made him look...soft, if there was no better word for it. It was the kind of look that demanded a fireplace a night snuggled on the couch. 

“It just started while I was driving over here. Have you been waiting here long?”

“Twenty minutes, but that’s Bambam for you,” Mark shrugged. “He’s never late. Everyone else is just too early,” he teased.

“I don’t know how Yugyeom handles it,” Jaebeom said, shaking his head. “Mom and dad raised us to be pretty punctual. It would make me too anxious to be waiting around for someone like that. Watch they don’t show up until we’ve already finished our meal. And then Yugyeom will whine that we started without them.”

“Sounds about right,” Mark chuckled. “We’d better eat something really good then, just to stick it to them. 

“Absolutely,” Jaebeom smiled. He pulled out his phone and started to text. “Let me see how far away they are. The movies aren’t  _ that  _ far away, they should really be here by now.”

After twenty minutes of radio silence on the part of Bambam and Yugyeom and a waitress coming by to take their orders, the pair at the table dawned on the realization that they had been the victims of Bambam’s shenanigans. 

“Mark,” Jaebeom said after a moment, speaking slowly as he parsed out his own thoughts. “Bam and Gyeom aren’t showing up, are they?”

“No,” Mark said as he looked down at his phone to see that Bambam was reading his texts, but decidedly not answering them. “I don’t think they are.”

“Idiots,” Jaebeom said as he put his phone away. “This is all a part of Yugyeom’s nonsense. He thinks I’m boring, or whatever. Which is bullshit, I’m not boring, I just don’t want to do the things he wants to do. That doesn’t make me  _ boring  _ it just makes me older than him.”

“Bambam’s the same,” Mark frowned as he slipped his own phone into his pocket. “He thinks I’m a recluse. Which I’m not. I just don’t like loud parties like he does.”

“Really, they’re the lame ones for not seeing our point of view.”

“I saw we get back at them,” Mark smiled. “They wanted to trick us? That’s fine. But we’re going to make it so that they  _ wished  _ they were actually here.”

“I like the way you think, Mark,” Jaebeom said with a grin as the waitress brought their meal. “What do you have in mind?”

The answer, as it turned out, was a Christmas market that was happening in the downtown area. It was almost adorably picturesque and looked like it belonged on a postcard with the caption “wish you were here”. Fairy lights adorned each storefront with a warm glow as the snow fell at a slow but steady pace. There were merchant stands along the street with vendors carrying everything from ornaments, to handcrafted gifts, to any and all kinds of sweet treats. 

Mark could see Jaebeom’s breath in the air as they walked. They were bundled enough that it wasn’t too cold, but it was enough that it made Mark want to capture a picture of it. He tried to shake that thought away. 

“I need a hot drink before I get hypothermia,” Jaebeom chuckled. 

“We feeling cider, hot chocolate, or mulled wine?” Mark asked as he looked through the vendors. 

“Wine, obviously,” Jaebeom said.

“Of course,” Mark chuckled. They found a vendor quickly and Mark purchased them both large cups of it. Jaebeom tried to object to Mark’s buying it for them, but acquiesced when Mark said that Jaebeom should consider it a Christmas present. Jaebeom would get him back for that one later. He just had to find the right sweet treat for them to share. He had never been good at receiving gifts and was far more comfortable with giving them. It made him happiest to be making other people happy. Perhaps it was the Eldest Child Syndrome, but he felt an intrinsic need to look after people. 

And Mark...Mark looked like he needed to be looked after. His chestnut brown hair was starting to get long enough to fall into his face. And despite being a year older than Jaebeom, it seemed that Mark was looking around the market with a childlike wonder that Jaebeom hadn’t felt in years. It was actually kind of beautiful.  _ He  _ was kind of beautiful. But that was neither here nor there. 

They made a game of making up stories for the other patrons of the market while they walked around, even going as far as to create dialogue for some of the more dramatic-appearing conversations. That night, Mark learned that Jaebeom had a simple sense of humor. Which wasn’t a bad thing. It just meant that a well-timed dad joke sent the other into a fit of laughter that made Mark feel like he had accomplished something great. He liked making people laugh. And he wanted to hear Jaebeom’s laugh even more. 

Mark was finishing up the epic tale of a particularly petulant child when his hand happened to brush Jaebeom’s while they walked. Jaebeom frowned and halted them in their path. “Mark, you hands are  _ freezing,”  _ he said as he took Mark’s hands in his in an attempt to warm them up. “You didn’t bring gloves?”

“Neither did you,” Mark countered. 

“Yeah, but I’ve got hand warmers in my pockets,” Jaebeom said, taking one out for evidence. “Here, hold onto them for a little bit,” he said as he tried to pass them over to Mark. Mark wouldn’t allow it, though. He shook his head and tried to pass them back. “No way, then  _ your  _ hands will get cold.”

“Well,” Jaebeom huffed as he tried to think of a way to satisfy them both. “Here,” he said, keeping one of the hand warmers in his palm and interlocking their fingers so that the hand warmer sat between them. “Now we  _ both  _ stay warm.”

Mark flushed and avoided Jaebeom’s gaze, but nodded regardless. He felt like an idiot for the way his heart skipped a beat. This wasn’t holding hands for the sake of holding hands. This was a practical way to keep the both of them warm in the winter snow. It wasn’t like it  _ meant  _ anything. They were just new friends looking out for each other. Friends held hands all the time. 

He didn’t usually hold his friend’s hands. But he was sure that  _ some  _ friends did things like this all the time. 

Certainly platonic or not, that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the feeling of Jaebeom’s fingers intertwined with his. That wasn’t a crime. And he  _ was  _ warmer now…

“Oh!” Jaebeom chimed with a smile when he saw a particular vendor. “Have you had those cookies?” he asked, nodding over in the direction of the vendor that was selling hand-decorated gingerbread cookies. “They were here last year. They’re the best ones I’ve ever had.”

Mark didn’t know what could possibly make  _ these  _ cookies better than any other gingerbread cookie that happened to exist in the world, but it seemed he was going to find out, because Jaebeom was practically dragging him over to the vendor through the crowd. 

This time it was Mark’s turn to protest about not paying for his own goods, but Jaebeom wouldn’t hear it. It was a return gift, after all. And he was happy to share these particular treats with someone who had never had them before. 

Mark ended up feeding the both of them the cookies. It was too cold to take apart their hands that were holding the hand warmer. So Mark would give himself a bite of the intricately decorated cookie, and then offer one to Jaebeom. Anyone who didn’t know the two of them would probably assume the two of them were grossly in the middle of their honeymoon phase. It was sweet to the point of absurdity. And how  _ cliche,  _ to be out here in the snow at a Christmas market, feeding a beautiful boy gingerbread cookies. If he had seen this in any of the various Christmas romcoms that existed, he would have rolled his eyes and changed the channel. But when he was living it himself? He had a giddy sort of excitement about it that was difficult to hide. 

Jaebeom seemed to notice. He melted into a soft smile as he took one of the bites that was offered to him. “Do you see what I mean?” he asked once he was finished chewing. “The best cookies.”

“They’re alright,” Mark teased. “I’ve had better.”

“God, you’re lucky you’re so cute,” Jaebeom countered with a little nudge of his elbow. 

That made Mark’s heart stop for a moment. He hadn’t considered for even a fraction of a second the possibility that Jaebeom might actually think that  _ he  _ was anything worth looking at. But as they stood there in the middle of the town, snow falling delicately onto Jaebeom’s hair and mingling in his eyelashes, the other male looked at him with nothing but utter affection. 

Mark had never felt so special before. 

“Shut up,” he chastised stupidly, shaking his head and looking at the floor so as not to embarrass himself further. 

Maybe Yugyeom and Bambam knew what they were doing when they decided that they were going to pair the two of them up. After all, Mark had never been very good with strangers. He was awkward and would usually stay relatively silent and was therefore a poor conversationalist and considered bad company. But he hadn’t had that feeling with Jaebeom. Somehow being with him alone felt completely natural despite the fact that they had only spoken a small handful of times before that. 

But what Bam and Yugyeom hadn’t considered in the pairing of these two was that they were both supremely awkward and wouldn’t know how to proceed in this. Mark didn’t know if he was supposed to make the next move. And if he was, he had no idea what the next move  _ was  _ or how to make it. Jaebeom, likewise, seemed to be stuck standing in the middle of town, staring at Mark and trying to decide what to do next. They must have been quite the sight to people who didn’t know them--two young men staring at each other completely baffled. 

Mark had never been someone to throw caution to the wind. It wasn’t his style. At least, not when he wasn’t angry. When he was calm, he took the time to sit and contemplate his choices before acting on what he thought was best. This time, though, he decided that if he stood there and thought too much longer, he would talk himself out of acting. He didn’t think he could afford to lose this chance. 

So he closed the distance between them, took a moment to admire the way Jaebeom looked with his hair littered with snowflakes, and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. The hand that wasn’t holding Mark’s came to cup his cheek and pull him a little closer as he sighed into Mark’s touch. Suddenly nothing was cold anymore. Mark felt completely washed over with a glowing warmth. He couldn’t help but smile, which in turn made Jaebeom smile, which made kissing all but impossible. Neither of them cared. They found themselves giggling against each other’s lips as they stood out in the late December chill. 

Mark had half a mind to actually  _ thank  _ Bambam. He would never have done something like this on his own, and now he was looking forward to the idea of doing this again. But then he realized that if he admitted that this had been a good idea, it would inflate Bambam’s ego too much and Mark would never hear the end of it for as long as he lived. 

Instead, Mark decided he was completely content with living in this moment, holding Jaebeom’s hand as they walked back to their cars and speculated whether or not the people that had brought them together were waiting for their returns to hear the news. They kissed once more before the parted and drove home with their hearts a little more full than they had been when they arrived. 

 


End file.
